Semma Therapeutics

Semma Therapeutics is the American startup founded in 2014, which purpose — to offer a method of treatment of diabetes of the first type using an implant with the cages creating insulin.

History

Attraction of $114 million investments

The American startup of Semma Therapeutics in the next round of financing attracted $114 million, Business Insider reported in November, 2017. As investors funds Eight Roads Ventures, Cowen Healthcare Investments, etc. and also the companies which were earlier already participating in financing of a startup — MPM Capital, F-Prime Capital Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Novartis, Medtronic and JDRF's T1D acted. The amount of the investments involved with Semma Therapeutics in the previous round was $49 million.

Semma Therapeutics attracted $114 million investments for completion of technology of treatment of type 1 diabetes

The Semma Therapeutics project specializes in therapy of type 1 diabetes — an incurable autoimmune disease of an endocrine system which main diagnostic symptom is the chronic hyperglycemia — the increased sugar level in blood. As a result, patients need to control constantly this indicator and to inject hormone of the insulin allowing an organism to process sugar (glucose).

The treatment method offered Semma Therapeutics consists in collecting of embryonic stem cells for the purpose of their transformation into the beta cages acting as natural producers of insulin — at diabetes they are destroyed by the immune system of the patient. The beta cages received thus then are going to be placed in the implants intended for implantation under the patient's skin. As the result, beta cages will be able to select freely insulin directly in an organism, remaining unnoticed by the immune system.

It is expected that such method will allow not only to control sugar level in blood, but also, according to the chairman of the board of directors of Semma Therapeutics Mark of Phishman (Mark Fishman), "cure diabetes" (Phishman probably meant by it disposal of disease symptoms — a comment of TAdviser).

As of November, 2017, the Semma Therapeutics method still is at an early stage of development. In particular, yet there is no information on whether it will be required to patients to change an implant regularly.

According to Semma Therapeutics, the method was tested for animals, and the raised funds will help a startup to start the first clinical trials in public.^[1]

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